Nutrisystem diet cons
It’s not sustainable for everyone. The low-calorie diet may be hard for some people to stick with.
You still have to shop and cook. You supplement your Nutrisystem meals with store-bought foods you prepare yourself, so you still have to put in some time every day. The extra purchases add to your food budget.
Lots of processed foods. You can’t avoid this with premade, prepackaged meals, and it’s hard to know just how processed the foods are. Some could be more processed than others.
Price. It can be expensive, depending on your budget.
Nutrisystem NuMi app
The Nutrisystem diet pairs with a smartphone app for your iOS or Android device. It has several features aimed at aiding your weight loss:
Food, activity, and weight trackers. This feature allows you to log your meals, how much water you drink, and the exercise that you get. It will connect to your Fitbit if you use one or to the step counter on your cell phone. Tracking the progress of your weight loss may help keep you motivated.
Personalized meal planning. As you reach your weight goals, the app will respond by changing your daily calorie goal. This is supposed to help you avoid weight loss plateaus.
Reminders. Need help remembering when to take a snack break or start your daily walk or other exercise? The app provides an alarm feature that will keep you from forgetting these essential parts of the Nutrisystem plan.
Education. The app provides recipes, meal plans, a guide to grocery shopping, and weight loss tips. Much of the info it provides will be tailored to your particular plan.
Nutrisystem: What Our Expert Says
There’s no question that if you follow this plan, you will lose weight, as long as you stick to it, says registered dietitian Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, LD. The diet claims you’ll lose 1-2 pounds a week, which is pretty serious weight loss, she says. Although the portion sizes seem small, the meals you eat on the diet will help fill you up. That’s because they focus on filling, high-fiber carbohydrates, such as whole grains, and high-protein lean meats, such as poultry and fish. “That provides an extra fullness factor, so you can get away with eating fewer calories,” says Zelman.
But the big question is: Will you be able to maintain this diet over a long period rather than just a few months? “It works for some people, but I don’t think I could do it!” Zelman says. “It’s low in calories and just not enough for me.”
She also points out that there’s limited research on the diet that is not funded by Nutrisystem. A 2015 review of research in Annals of Internal Medicine reported that people on the Nutrisystem diet lost an average of 3.8% more weight than people trying to lose weight with counseling or weight loss education alone. That’s promising, the authors conclude, but they note that the research they reviewed focused only on short-term weight loss. “There is no long-term data on the diet,” says Zelman.
Is it good for certain conditions?
Nutrisystem has a plan tailored to people who have diabetes and need to manage their blood sugar and insulin levels. It claims that you will lose 7.8% of your body weight and lower your A1c by up to 1% in 6 months. Your A1c is your average blood sugar level over the previous 3 months.
Independent research does not fully back up this claim, however. A 2017 research review in Obesity Reviews found that people with diabetes lowered their A1c by 0.3% over 6 months. The researchers do say that this is a significant reduction in A1c and call it a “promising” short-term reduction. However, it’s less than a third of what Nutrisystem claims. There’s no evidence that it’s helpful for people at increased risk of diabetes, such as those with prediabetes.
Who shouldn’t try Nutrisystem?
Zelman says you should not sign up for the Nutrisystem diet if you:
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding. The diet will not adequately support your nutritional needs.
- Have heart disease. The diet, Zelman says, does not meet American Heart Association dietary guidelines.
- Have celiac disease or follow a gluten-free diet for other reasons.
- Have a peanut allergy. Though not all Nutrisystem foods contain peanuts, they may be made in facilities that process peanuts.
- Have a soy allergy.
The final word
Zelman likes many aspects of the Nutrisystem diet. Topping her list are its convenience and balanced diet.
“I can’t overplay the convenience factor,” she says. “It takes all the guesswork out of it, if you don’t want to count calories or track your nutrients.”
Other highlights for Zelman include:
- Its encouragement of exercise (as part of a successful whole-lifestyle approach to weight loss)
- Its app and the education support it offers
- Its diabetes-friendly food choices
Zelman does have some reservations. She says that some people won’t be able to afford the Nutrisystem plan. But her real concern is about the long term. While this diet does produce solid results in the short term, Zelman worries that many people won’t be able to sustain it. “I don’t like the short-term fix because you have to get back to reality at some point,” she says. “I think the numbers are just too low for the long term.”
If you want to try this diet, here is her recommendation: Use it to kickstart your weight loss while you think ahead to how you will keep eating well once you are off the plan. Talk to a registered dietitian nutritionist along the way if you need guidance planning for that transition.
Nutrisystem diet FAQs
Is the Nutrisystem diet healthy?
Yes. It provides a good balance of nutrition. However, it may not meet your calorie needs if you are very active.
How fast can I lose weight on the Nutrisystem diet?
The company says you can lose up to 7 pounds in the first week on certain plans and 1-2 pounds every week after that.
What is the downside to Nutrisystem?
While it can be good for short-term weight loss, it may not be sustainable over a long period.
What foods you can’t eat on a Nutrisystem diet?
No foods are excluded.
What do I eat in a day on Nutrisystem?
You’ll eat three meals and three snacks per day. These are a combination of foods provided by Nutrisystem and those you buy yourself.
